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216-unit apartment complex in northeast Ann Arbor set to break ground in spring

Traverwood_Apartments_rendering.jpg

A drawing by Hobbs + Black Architects of Ann Arbor showing what some of the new Traverwood Apartments buildings would look like. Other buildings would feature ornamental stonework around their base.
(Hobbs + Black Architects)

One of the first major residential developments in Ann Arbor in years that's come forward outside of the downtown is set to move forward.

The City Council on Monday night unanimously approved plans for the new Traverwood Apartments, a 216-unit project planned on roughly 20 acres of land owned by First Martin Corp. in northeast Ann Arbor.

Council Members Mike Anglin and Sabra Briere were absent.

Mike Martin of First Martin Corp. said his company plans to break ground on the $30 million project this spring and it's expected to cater to a range of tenants.

The plans include constructing 16 two-story apartment buildings containing 216 one- and two-bedroom apartments — for a total of 280 bedrooms — on Traverwood Drive, just north of Plymouth Road.

"We're excited," Martin said. "We think the project is going to be a benefit to the northeast side and provide additional housing options in an area that's pretty popular as a residential destination for people in the city of Ann Arbor."

Martin said he expects the apartments to be attractive to working professionals such as those from the University of Michigan's North Campus Research Complex and the Environmental Protection Agency's fuel emissions lab on Plymouth Road.

He said it's possible it could even attract some U-M graduate students, but it's definitely not going to be an undergraduate complex.

The City Council voted Monday night to rezone 3.88 acres of land at 2025 Traverwood Drive from a light industrial/office district to multi-family housing. The rezoned property is being combined with the adjacent 15.74-acre parcel at 2225 Traverwood Drive to be included in the Traverwood Apartments site plan.

The council also approved a permit to allow disturbance of some wetlands, including removal of up to 1,800 square feet of wetland area, which will require mitigation by construction of at least 2,700 square feet of new wetland. The permit requires restoration and monitoring of the remaining wetland area on the site.

An aerial of the Traverwood Apartments site.City of Ann Arbor

First Martin is donating to the city the northern 2.02 acres for an addition to the Stapp Nature Area. City planners said that area contains the highest-quality natural features on the site, including significant landmark trees and a steep slope.

City officials said the remaining site meets all zoning requirements with 62 percent useable open space; 50 percent is required by city code.

A site development agreement has been completed to address natural features protection, public pathway easements and site-related utility improvements.

City officials determined there are 52 footing drain disconnects or equivalents required for the development.

City Planner Matt Kowalski noted in a staff report that the revised plan submitted by the developer addresses the concerns of the Planning Commission and staff about the layout of internal sidewalks by providing a continuous sidewalk along both sides of the drive and providing numerous onsite cross walks.

Kowalski explained the 1,800 square feet of a regulated lineal wetlands being removed lead from a natural pond to a regional detention basin that was designed as an overflow channel from the natural pond.

That channel will be replaced with an underground piping system that will maintain the function of the previous channel, Kowalski said. A new 2,700-square-foot wetland will be created at the southern edge of the preserved native woodland on the north half of the site, at the bottom of a natural slope with runoff from the wooded area.